The Prohibitionists by B.

International Religious Liberty Association · Chicago, Illinois · Jul 5, 1900

FromThe American Sentinel, The Sentinel of Liberty, Vol. 15, No. 26.

The Prohibitionists.

By B.

Last week the Prohibitionists of Illinois and of the United States held their conventions in this city, and placed tickets in the field.

Both conventions professed to adhere to “the single issue of prohibition of the liquor traffic,” but neither did it; both declaring also in favor of woman suffrage by very large majorities.

Both the speeches and the platforms of both State and national convention, revealed also a strong leaning toward that which the readers of The Sentinel of Liberty know as National Reform. The national platform sets forth this:

“The National Prohibition Party, in convention represented at Chicago, June 27 and 28, 1900, acknowledge Almighty God as the supreme source of all just governments, realizing that this Republic was founded upon Christian principles and can endure only as it embodies justice and righteousness, and asserting that all authority should seek the best good of all the governed, to this end wisely prohibiting what is wrong and permitting only what is right, hereby records and proclaims,” etc.

The Sentinel of Liberty is heartily in accord with everything that is in the interests of temperance. Nobody in any way connected with the publication of this paper indulges even to a limited extent in the use of any intoxicant. Tobacco also is strictly tabood, and even tea and coffee are regarded as hurtful luxuries, to be avoided.

But while opposed to every species of intemperance, and especially opposed to the liquor traffic as it exists to-day, we are not in sympathy with the platform of the National Prohibition Party.

Any party that would undertake to carry out the profession of the Prohibition Party, “prohibiting what is wrong and permitting only what is right,” would necessarily make a record similar to that of the Spanish Inquisition.

We do not know exactly what is meant by the words, “Acknowledging Almighty God as the supreme source of all just government.” There is a sense in which this is true, since “there is no power but of God;” but it is not true in the sense that civil government is charged with the duty of administering the divine law, as revealed in the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. And this is probably what is meant by it in this platform.

Again, if by saying that “this Republic was founded upon Christian principles” the Prohibitionists mean principles of truth and justice, they assert only the truth. Never before was any human government established upon principles so just. Never before was the divine principles of government by the consent of the governed so fully recognized by man. But this is probably not what is meant by these words in this Prohibition platform.

Political prohibition has almost always been bound up—as it is in this case—with the idea of “prohibiting what is wrong and permitting only what is right.” This is altogether outside the legitimate sphere of civil government. “Right” and “wrong” refer altogether to moral qualities; and with moral qualities civil government can of right have nothing to do.

Every political party ought to give attention only to prohibiting wrongs and protecting rights. “Rights” and “wrongs” have reference primarily not to moral qualities, but to the relations of acts to men and women—to social beings having equal rights and common duties, growing out of their relations as social beings. The just powers of civil government begin and end with these rights and duties. To protect natural rights, to enforce natural duties, is the whole duty of civil government. Only despotism can go beyond it, and to come short of it is to fail of the ends for which civil rule is established.

Sabbath-breaking is wrong and Sabbath-keeping is right. If the Prohibition Party were in power they would, according to their platform, necessarily prohibit Sabbath-breaking and permit only Sabbath-keeping. But this is altogether outside the domain of legitimate civil authority. Indeed it is beyond the power of civil government, for the reason that Sabbath-keeping and Sabbath-breaking consist not alone in outward acts but in the thoughts and intents of the heart. The same is true of everything to which moral quality attaches. It follows therefore that it is impossible for any human government to prohibit what is wrong and permit only what is right. The Spanish Inquisitors sought to do this, hence their resort to torture to get at the secret thoughts of their victims.

The liquor traffic ought to be prohibited, not because it is morally wrong, but because it corrupts civil administration, dethrones reason, endangers life and property, robs families, increases crime, fills poorhouses, etc. But these are not the primary reasons urged by the Prohibition Party; they are in favor of “prohibiting what is wrong” and “permitting only what is right.” In other words they propose to accomplish a moral reform by political methods. They must necessarily fail of their purpose.